EU ASKS ARMENIA TO DESIST FROM NUCLEAR USE

Power Engineering International
March 22 2013

22/03/2013
By Diarmaid Williams
International Digital Editor

Earthquake-ridden Armenia has come under renewed calls from the
European Union to halt the use of Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant.

The head of the European Union Delegation in Armenia Traian Hristea
presented the European Neighbourhood Policy on Armenia this week when
he stated, “We are still concerned about the use of the nuclear power
plant. We have repeatedly appealed to the government of Armenia asking
it to develop a programme for the conservation of the nuclear plant
as soon as possible.”

Mr Hristea added that the EU are willing to discuss solutions for
Armenian energy security, once nuclear power generation is discontinued
in the country.

The plant was originally closed after the 1988 Spitak earthquake but
resumed in 1995. The region is particularly susceptible to earthquake
activity, with a large number of minor earthquakes in the past 10
years in this area.

There has been an intensification of seismic processes indicated by
seismologist research, and growing evidence of the potential for a
major accident for any such plants in the Caucuses region.